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and Mal Vientos in Spanish. “They are especially feared because they could<br />
make people physically ill <strong>with</strong> mysterious ailments for long periods of<br />
time,” he said.<br />
“Some people don’t believe in them anymore. Even when they’re sick<br />
<strong>with</strong> them, they still don’t believe,” Panti continued. “I respect the Winds<br />
because I know how powerful they can be. I’ve seen their mischief.”<br />
He said one of the worst is the rain-drenched Wind of the Milpa, which<br />
attacks farmers on the way home from the cornfields. “They’re hot, sweaty,<br />
and tired, and the cold, wet wind blows on them. The next day they can’t<br />
get out of bed, won’t eat, and have a high fever.”<br />
Some Winds do not intend to do harm, but people must show respectful<br />
caution anyway, he warned. “Avoid them whenever possible. Farmers<br />
should carry dry clothes and get under a shelter when it rains in the milpa.”<br />
We continued to talk over lunch. I asked him why the Tzibche plant was<br />
so vital to Carla’s mixture. He had used it during my initiation Primicia to<br />
protect us from being harmed by the powerful, spiritual forces that were<br />
roused.<br />
“It is the only Xiv that cures the Hot Wind of the <strong>Maya</strong>. It grows just<br />
behind a tree near the peanut field on the way to the forest. Tomorrow I will<br />
show you.”<br />
I then asked if there were any other spiritual diseases I should learn<br />
about. He looked at me as if I’d asked him how many shades of green there<br />
were in the forest.<br />
“The human spirit can be plagued by as many troubles as the body,” he<br />
said. Infants were particularly susceptible. A child was not just cranky when<br />
it refused to eat, was up all night, and cried often. He outlined three<br />
illnesses the child might have: mal de ojo, susto, and viento de descuido.<br />
Their symptoms are similar and they are distinguished only by the intensity<br />
and rapidity of the pulse.<br />
I knew of mal de ojo, or the evil eye. It had been brought to the New<br />
World by the Spaniards, who probably picked it up from the Arabs. In my<br />
childhood household, my Italian grandmother, Isola, had insisted I wear a<br />
clove of garlic in my Catholic scapula to protect me from mal occhio, the<br />
evil eye in Italian.<br />
Susto was Spanish for fright. It can be caused by anything that might<br />
scare a baby: an angry dog, the piercing sound of a jet engine overhead, or a<br />
drunken father’s abuse of its mother.